Field of the Disclosure
The invention relates to a packaging device indented for packaging a windscreen wiper blade comprising a curved blade with integrated flexible structure.
The invention has a particularly advantageous, although not exclusive, application in the field of spare parts for motor vehicles.
Background Art
Today, there is a new generation of windscreen wiper blades that have the particularity of not being equipped with compensator structures, as opposed to the straight windscreen wiper blades that are commonly used nowadays. This new type of windscreen wiper still has a flexible wiping blade, but the outer framework that is responsible for supporting it is replaced by a flexible structure that is integrated directly in the blade. The assembly is arranged such that in its resting position, the blade has a concave longitudinal shape in its sagittal plane, and yet, when in contact with a surface to be wiped, said blade is able to straighten up by elastic distortion of its flexible structure so as to match said surface as best as possible throughout its entire movement.
Due precisely to its curved shape, a windscreen wiper with a curved blade is much larger in its resting position than a similar windscreen wiper with compensators and a straight blade. It therefore turns out to be a lot more problematic to package it, since it is not conceivable to use a simple blister pack with a matching shape. The volume of the packaging must, in fact, be relatively reduced mainly for reasons of manufacturing costs, protection of the environment and logistics among others.
In order to solve this difficulty, there are known ways of using a packaging provided with holding means that can be used to immobilize the blade inside a housing, in a position that is at least partially straightened out in relation to its resting position.
International patent application WO 01/30619 describes mainly a packaging device that is presented in the form of a shell in which two rectilinear grooves are made facing each other. The assembly is arranged so that each groove is able to fit together with a projecting part that extends along the entire matching face of the blade, and mainly with one of the elastically deformable tongues that make up the flexible structure.
This document also describes a substantially equivalent variant. In fact, contrary to the embodiment of the invention mentioned previously, the shell in this case is provided with two inner flanges that are both rigid and linear. Arranged opposite each other, they can fit into a series of grooves that extend longitudinally on either side of the heel of the blade, and mainly in the existing grooves, which are designed so as to provide the blade with the flexibility required for its reversal.
This type of packaging device, however, has the disadvantage of being particularly impractical to use. The placing of the blade inside the housing turns out, in fact, to be very complicated in the practice, since it requires said blade to be precisely straightened out in order to be able to perform the double fitting with the shell, which furthermore covers the entire length of all the sides of said blade. Moreover, such a packaging device does not allow the blade to be promoted sufficiently, insofar as all its sides are partially concealed by the holding means once said blade is in place.